There was no particular reason why Luna Lovegood was sat on the left-hand-side seat nearest the widow in the 14th compartment from the front of the Hogwart's Express, or, indeed, why the window of the before-mentioned compartment was open at an angle of precisely eight-five degrees, emitting a freezing cold breeze.
There was definitely no particular reason why a spell making the 14th compartment from the front of the Hogwart's Express inaccessible and invisible had been expertly cast by the 17 inch griffin-feather wand currently held by the second and third fingers of the sole person occupying the same compartment.
There was of course no reason why Luna was holding her left hand out of the window, and staring anxiously out through the glass. Why would there be?
So of course, it would make no one curious or in the least bit suspicious to know that when a strange, glowing blue ball finally sped straight into Luna's grasp, she wasn't the least surprised, but, on the contrary, slightly relieved, and that she squeezed it carefully and it opened up into a copy of the Quibbler, which she turned to the 14th page, to the left-hand-side article, closest to the edge of the page, read it slowly, and breathed a sigh of relief.
For the moment, they were safe.
Luna looked back at the door, twitched her wand (which made a sound like someone putting their finger in the corner of their mouth to imitate the noise of a cork coming out of a champagne bottle) and when Ginny Weasley and Colin Creevy arrived she was reading about the Lesser-Spotted Traddlepot of Somerset upside down.
"Hello, Luna!" Said Ginny in her marvellously jolly way, and Colin grinned at her. "Bit chilly, eh?"
"It is probably something to do with the Lesser-Spotted Traddlepots… I hear they emit cold breezes." Answered Luna, and ignored Colin when he snorted loudly.
"Where from?" He said, and erupted into giggles.
"Their ears, of course."
"Otherwise harmless, I should hope?" Ginny said, and winked sideways at Colin, who was now shaking quite violently.
"On the contrary…" Luna murmured, and then said more loudly, "I do hope you haven't started a twitch, Ginny?"
Ginny smiled, nervously, "I'm a bit stressed at the moment."
"But then, aren't we all." Added Colin, making a desperate save.
There was a pause, and both of them stared anxiously at Luna.
"It's probably just the Norlocks." Said Luna, finally, and turned back to the Quibbler. For a while there was complete silence, Luna reading, Colin gazing out of the window, and Ginny asleep in her chair.
There was a sudden crack and when Ginny looked up, she found that the ends of her hair had suddenly turned a liivid purple, and a moment later it startedto flash brightly.
"What the-"
"I was just wondering what it would look like, sorry." Luna supplied, and gave an apologetic smile.
"Well would you mind turning it back again? Some time soon? Perhaps in the next few seconds?" Flared up Ginny, and her nose turned red at the tip.
"Right. One moment. I just need to remember how to. Tip of my tongue, you know. Hmmmm." Luna replied dreamily, closed her eyes, and then began to mutter.
The other two leaned in carefully, trying to catch what she was saying.
"Purple. Whether the weather is hot... Rumplestiltskin. Hair. Blonde. Yellow. Clown's feet. Hmmmm. Apricots. Orange. Rainbow. No. Of course not. Pink. Hmmmm. Perhaps, at a pinch. No. Well..."
"Would you hurry up, Luna?" Ginny said, a little louder than she had to.
Luna opened her eyes and sat up. "Oh dear. You broke my thought stream. I was so sure I was almost there. Well. Never mind. It will wear off eventually, of course."
"What do you mean it'll wear off eventually? I can't go into school like this, can I? People will think I've gone mad!"
"Well, I can't remember now, naturally."
"Natur-"
"You interrupted me. I can never remember when that happens. It'll wear off eventu-"
"Eventually, yes I know, you said that already!"
"You're so cool, you'll start a new fashion anyway." Said Colin, loyally.
Ginny turned on him. "Well you would, wouldn't you, and you know why? You have no taste whatsoever."
"Why if you ask me -" Colin said, hotly.
"Well that's the point, isn't it? I'm not!"
" - if you ask me, you should be shouting at Luna, not me!" Colin continued.
Ginny smiled slightly, and said, "Well, you've finally shown some sense." She turned towards the window, but when she looked, Luna was gone.
"What the -"
